Zechariah 14

1 Listen! It will soon be the time when Yahweh [will judge everyone]. At that time, the possessions that were taken from you [people of Jerusalem by your enemies will be returned to you, and] will be divided among you.

Watch out! For the day of the Lord is coming when what has been plundered from you will be divided up right in front of you.

2 [Before that happens, ] Yahweh will cause [the armies of] many [HYP] nations to attack Jerusalem. They will capture the city and steal all the valuable things from your houses and rape the women. They will take half of the people to other countries, but the other half of the people will be allowed to remain in the city.

I will bring together all the nations to attack Jerusalem. The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

3 Then Yahweh will go out to fight against those nations; he will fight like [SIM] [soldiers] fight in a battle.

Then the Lord will go out to fight against the nations as he fights in times of war.

4 On that day, he will stand on Olive [Tree] Hill, east of Jerusalem. Olive [Tree] Hill will be split into two [parts], with a large valley between the parts. Half of the hill will move toward the north and half [will move] toward the south.

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem to the east. The Mount of Olives will split apart, with half moving north and half moving south, creating a wide valley from east to west.

5 People will flee through that valley which extends to the other side (OR, to Azel), like [SIM] people fled when there was an earthquake during the time that King Uzziah ruled Judah. Then Yahweh my God will come with his holy [angels].

You will run away through this mountain valley for it will reach as far as Azal. You will run away like people did at the time of the earthquake during the reign of Uzzah, king of Judah. Then the Lord will come, accompanied by all his holy ones.

6 At that time, there will be no light [from the sun]; it will not become cold and there will be no frost.

On that day there will be no longer cold and frost.

7 There has been no other time like that time, and only Yahweh knows when it will happen. There will be no daytime or nighttime; there will be [light continually], [even] in the evening.

It will be one continuous day (only the Lord knows how this could happen). It won't be day or night, because in the evening it will still be light.

8 At that time, running/fresh water will flow from Jerusalem. One stream will flow toward the east to the [Dead] Sea. The other stream will flow toward the west to the [Mediterranean] Sea. The water will flow [all the time], during (summer/the hot season) as well as in (winter/the cold season).

On that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of it going east to the Dead Sea and half going west to the Mediterranean Sea, flowing in summer and winter alike.

9 After that time, Yahweh will be the king [who rules] the entire world. [Everyone will know that] Yahweh, and only Yahweh [MTY], is the true God.

The Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one true Lord, and his name the only one.

10 [At that time, ] all the land [in Judah] from Geba [town at the north] to Rimmon [town far to] the south of Jerusalem, will become a plain. Jerusalem will remain raised up like it has always been. [It will extend] from the Benjamin Gate and the First Gate [northeast] to the Tower of Hananel, and to the king’s winepresses [to the southwest].

The whole land will be transformed into a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem will be raised up to where it was, and people will live there from the Benjamin Gate to where the old gate was, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.

11 Many people will live there, and the city will never be destroyed again. It will be a safe city.

It will be inhabited and never again condemned to destruction again—people will be able to live in safety in Jerusalem.

12 But Yahweh will cause the people in all the nations that attacked Jerusalem to be afflicted by a (plague/severe illness). Their flesh will rot while they are still standing up. Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

This will be the plague that the Lord will use to strike all the nations that attacked Jerusalem. Their flesh shall rot while they are still standing on their feet; their eyes will rot in their sockets; their tongues will rot in their mouths.

13 At that time, Yahweh will cause many people to panic. People will grab and attack each other.

On that day the Lord will strike them with a terrible panic, and they will seize one another, and fight hand-to-hand.

14 [The people who live in other places in] Judah will fight to defend Jerusalem. They will collect the valuable things from the surrounding nations—a lot of gold and silver and clothes.

Even Judah will fight in Jerusalem. The wealth of the surrounding nations shall be collected: lots of gold, silver, and clothes.

15 The same plague [that will afflict the people of other nations] will afflict their horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other work animals in their (camps/places where they have set up their tents).

A similar plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all other animals that may be in their camps.

16 The people of other nations who [previously] came [to fight] against Jerusalem, all those who are still alive, will return to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the Commander of the armies of angels, and to celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

After this every one of the survivors from the nations that attacked Jerusalem will go there to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

17 If there are people in those nations who do not go [to Jerusalem to worship there], rain will not fall on their land.

If any of the peoples of the world refuse to go to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.

18 If the people of Egypt [or any other nation] do not go to Jerusalem, [they will not have any rain]. And Yahweh will cause them to experience the same plague that afflicted the [people of other] nations that did not celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

If the Egyptian people refuse to go and attend, then the Lord will inflict on them the same plague as on the other nations who will not go celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

19 That is how [Yahweh] will punish [the people of] Egypt and [the people of] any [other] nation who do not go [to Jerusalem] to celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

This will be the punishment on Egypt and all the nations if they do not go to Jerusalem and celebrate.

20 At that time, [the words] ‘Dedicated to Yahweh’ will be written on the bells that are fastened to the horses. The [cooking] pots in [the courtyard of the] temple will be [sacred], like the bowls that are near the altar.

On that day the bells worn by horses will be engraved with the words “Holy to the Lord.” The household cooking pots used in the Lord's Temple will be as holy as the bowls used on the altar in the presence of the Lord.

21 Every pot in Jerusalem and [in other places in] Judah will be dedicated to the Commander of the armies of angels. So everyone who offers sacrifices [there in Jerusalem] will be able to take some of the meat that has been brought for sacrifices, and cook it in their own pots. And at that time, people will no longer buy or sell things in [the courtyard of] the temple of the Commander of the armies of angels.

Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, so that everyone who comes to sacrifice can take them and cook their sacrificial meat in them. On that day there will no longer be traders in the Lord's Temple.